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Abstract

This study examines the suitability of 30 m Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), 250 m time-series Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) and other auxiliary datasets for mapping forest extent in China at 30 m resolution circa 2010. We calculated numerous spectral features, EVI time series, and topographical features that are helpful for forest/non-forest distinction. In this research, extensive efforts have been made in developing training samples over difficult to map or complex regions. Scene by scene quality checking was done on the initial forest extent results and low quality results were refined until satisfactory. Based on the forest extent mask, we classified the forested area into 6 types (evergreen/deciduous broadleaf, evergreen/deciduous needleleaf, mixed forests, and bamboos). Accuracy assessment of our forest/non-forest classification using 2195 test sample units independent of the training sample indicates that the producer’s accuracy (PA) and user’s accuracy (UA) are 92.0% and 95.7%, respectively. According to this map, the total forested area in China was 164.90 million ha (Mha) circa 2010. It is close to the forest area of 7th National Forest Resource Inventory with the same definition of forest. The overall accuracy for the more detailed forest type classification is 72.7%.
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